If you’re a parent, you know that feeling of dread when your child gets their hands on your phone or tablet. Not only is there the risk of them accessing content not meant for them (like your favourite episode of Game Of Thrones), there’s the even bigger risk of them spending all your hard earned cash on in-app purchases without even realising it.
If you want your children to enjoy technology without worrying about what might happen, here are a few parental control suggestions which could help whether you’re using iOS or Android.
iOS
If you’re using Apple’s mobile operating system, there are steps that you can take to ensure that your kids don’t access restricted content or spend money on your credit card through in-app purchases. To do this, you will turn on Restrictions on your iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch).
Here’s how to enable Restrictions
- Go to Settings > General > Restrictions.
- Tap Enable Restrictions.
- Tap Enable Restrictions and create a passcode for Restrictions. Don’t forget this passcode. In the future, you’ll need your Restrictions passcode to change your settings or to turn off Restrictions.
Thanks to Restrictions, you can limit access to certain apps and functions such as Safari, iTunes, In-App Purchases and even FaceTime.
What you can restrict
To see which apps and features you can restrict, go to Settings > General > Restrictions. Here you can turn on or off restrictions for the listed apps and features.
If an app or feature is on or if there’s a checkmark next to it, anyone using your device can use that app or feature. Otherwise, no one can use that app or feature.
Businesses and schools often use profiles, which can turn on restrictions. To find out if your device has a profile, go to Settings > General > Profiles. Contact your administrator or the person who set up the profile for more information.
Apps and features
- Safari
- Camera (also disables FaceTime)
- FaceTime
- iTunes Store
- Apple Music Connect (replaces Connect tab with Playlists)
- iBooks Store
- In-App Purchases
- Siri
- AirDrop
- CarPlay (available only with iPhone 5 or later)
- Installing apps
- Deleting apps
- Multiplayer games in Game Center
- Adding Game Center friends
You can restrict access to YouTube in iOS 5 and earlier.
Types of content
- Ratings (select the country in the ratings section to automatically apply the appropriate content ratings for that region)
- Music, Podcasts, News and iTunes
- Movies
- TV shows
- Books
- Apps
- Siri
- Websites
Android
Android doesn’t have an overarching parental control centre, instead, they have parental controls available for various Google apps (Google Play Store – including Play Music, Play Movies, Play TV and Play Games). To set up an account for your child, go to Settings, the search for Users and then select Restricted Profile.
To set up a Restricted Profile:
- Open your device’s Settings app .
- Under “Device,” tap Users
Add user or profile.
- Tap Restricted profile. The new profile opens with a list.
- To name the profile, tap New profile. Type the name and tap OK.
- To pick which listed apps, features, and settings the profile can see and use, tap the On/Off switches and Settings.
- At the top left, tap Back.
- Tap the new profile.
- If you’re with the new user, that user can set up the Google Account and other details.
- If the new user isn’t there, that user can set up the next time that you switch to this profile.
The restricted profile is recommended for young children as it allows you to control what appears on this profile, which means that you can load it with child-friendly games.
If you don’t feel like setting up a Restricted Profile, you can install the Screen Time Parental Control App from the Google Play Store. This app allows you to monitor the amount of time your kids are spending on the devices, it has a built-in ad blocker and restrict access to non-educational apps during school hours.
It might not be fun playing bad cop, but when it comes to protecting your children, it may be necessary.